Cruz Lawyer In '85 Tells Of Frustrations

Outrage, Skepticism Is Captured In Memo

On Jan. 3, 1985, with jury selection just four days away in the murder trial of Rolando Cruz, DuPage County deputy public defender Tom Laz knew he was facing the biggest case of his nearly 10-year career.

But on that day, his job suddenly turned even more daunting.

In the 10th paragraph of a document filed in court that day was a statement revealing for the first time that prosecutors Thomas Knight and Patrick King intended to present evidence that 20 months earlier, Cruz had told DuPage County Detective Thomas Vosburgh incriminating details of the crime in the context of relaying a dream--facts supposedly known only by the killer and investigators.

"I believe that within an extremely short period of time thereafter, I asked that an investigation be done, that Detective Vosburgh be interviewed to ascertain specifics," Laz testified Tuesday, the fifth day of the trial of seven men--including Vosburgh, Knight and King--who are charged with framing Cruz for the abduction, rape and slaying of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico.

Laz told Judge William Kelly and a jury that he was angry because the information had been disclosed so close to the beginning of the trial and because the disclosure made no mention of where or when the statement had been made, and that there was no written police report of the statement.

The memo he drafted, a portion of which was read to the jury, revealed the thoughts of a man concerned about the alleged statement's authenticity.

"Have one of the investigators contact Thomas Vosburgh," Laz's memo began. "Ask him where or when it was that Cruz made these statements, who was present at the time Cruz made these statements.

"Ask him if he made a report on it," the memo continued. "And if he says he did, ask him if you can see that report right now because we didn't get a copy . . . like we are supposed to.

"And if he starts fudging and hemming and hawing, damn it, I want to know that," the memo said.

But Kelly prevented special prosecutor William J. Kunkle Jr. from directing Laz to read aloud the most volatile portion of the memo, in which Laz suggested that if Vosburgh could not recall where and when the statement was made or if anyone else was present when Cruz supposedly made it, "that bastard is making up that report."

Kunkle has charged that Vosburgh and his then-partner, Dennis Kurzawa, concocted the statement to railroad Cruz. He also alleges that prosecutors King and Knight knew it was false, yet went ahead with it anyway.

Also on trial are Kurzawa and two other DuPage sheriff's officers, Lieutenants Robert Winkler and James Montesano, as well as Robert Kilander, who prosecuted Cruz at a second trial in 1990.

Cruz might be called to the witness stand as early as Wednesday afternoon, Kunkle said.

His appearance has been long anticipated--by supporters eager to hear Cruz tell his story under oath for the first time and by defense lawyers eager to attack him as a liar seeking revenge for his years on Death Row.

On Tuesday, Laz conceded in cross-examination that despite the 11th hour disclosure, he never asked to delay the trial.

He also testified that he waited 27 days, until Vosburgh was on the witness stand, to ask that Vosburgh be barred from testifying about the dream statement. That motion was denied.

Laz also testified that after Cruz was convicted in the 1985 trial, but before jurors began deliberating on his sentence, King and Knight met with Laz and Cruz in the DuPage County Jail. The prosecutors offered to waive their request for the death penalty if Cruz would agree to implicate Stephen Buckley, the third defendant in the case, Laz testified. Buckley had been tried with Cruz and another defendant, Alejandro Hernandez, but was granted a mistrial when the jury failed to reach a verdict on him.

"He didn't do it. I can't do that," Laz quoted Cruz as saying.

Cruz and Hernandez were both sentenced to death. The case against Buckley eventually was dropped. After Cruz was acquitted, prosecutors dropped charges against Hernandez. Jeanine Nicarico's death remains unsolved.

Late Tuesday, defense attorney Terry Ekl filed a motion seeking permission to cross-examine Cruz about an Aug. 8, 1983, Wheaton police report detailing an interrogation of Cruz about a burglary.

"Cruz stated that he had been having `black outs' (lapses of memory)," the report states, "because he had been drinking heavily for the past few months."

Ekl suggested the report supports defense attorneys' contention that Cruz's denial about making the dream statement is unreliable.